Basic and Intermediate Missionary Discipleship Programs

Maryknoll's Missionary Discipleship Formation Program is for front line parish, campus and diocesan ministers and others interested in integrating global solidarity and mission into their spirituality, ministry and programs. Drawing our global experiences, we specialize in formation for catechists, teachers, deacons and parish leaders.

The Basic and Intermediate Programs each provide 5 hours of missionary discipleship formation based on Pope Francis' Joy of the Gospel / Evangelii Gaudium. Each can be offered over the course of one day, or two evenings. They can be taken together or separately.

The program is offered periodically at our Maryknoll mission centers in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and New York. However, we can come to you and offer the program at your school, parish or diocese.

Utilizing the Pastoral Circle methodology of See-Judge-Act, the interactive program integrates Scripture and Church teaching to help participants:

See how their story is woven into God’s mission of love

Discern a roadmap for encountering God through encounter at the peripheries

Go forth boldly, rooted in a global perspective, with skills and resources to live, lead, and serve with abundant joy.

Basic Program

The participant will be able to:

Identify their lived experience within our shared reality to see how their own story is woven into God’s mission of love (SEE)

Develop skills to enliven their ministries and daily lives as missionary disciples by integrating a global perspective and spirituality (ACT)

Intermediate Program

Building on the experiences and learnings from the Basic Program, the participant will be able to:

Better identify and understand their political, social and economic context by mapping their peripheries within the global perspective (SEE)

Discern through theological reflection how to navigate the disturbance at the periphery in order to be transformed through authentic encounter (JUDGE)

Envision and incorporate new ways to form and accompany communities of missionary disciples to live, lead and serve with abundant joy (ACT)

"Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are 'disciples' and 'missionaries', but rather that we are always 'missionary disciples'."

Pope Francis, Evangelii Guadium

Basic and Intermediate FAQs:

What other Missionary Discipleship programs do you offer?

What is Missionary Discipleship? What is Pope Francis talking about? We offer 90 minute to half day introductory workshops on missionary discipleship. We also offer workshops on mission related topics and global solidarity.

What does it mean to have the spirituality of a missionary disciple, a person overflowing with joy who goes forth in gratitude to share the love and mercy of God that they have received with others, especially those who need it the most? Learn more...

Missionary Disciples Formation Programs help you:

Appreciate the significance of missionary discipleship to your personal, ministerial, and communal identities

Engage with the scriptural, historical, and theological foundations of God’s mission for us and for creation

Encounter the Church as a community of missionary disciples and engage with current models and methods of authentic missionary discipleship

Grow in a spirituality grounded in mission and solidarity with our sisters and brothers on the margins

Develop skills and resources to strengthen and enliven your ministries, programs, and communities through mission education

Make evangelization a priority in your parish or school.

Learn how to integrate scripture and church teaching on mission into your programs (Redemptoris Missio, Evangelii Guadium and the USCCB Statement: Teaching the Spirit of Mission Ad Gentes, Continuing Pentecost Today)